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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22724473">Nicknames</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/virtuous_rose/pseuds/virtuous_rose'>virtuous_rose</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Gen, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, not really shippy... but it's there</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 16:16:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,012</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22724473</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/virtuous_rose/pseuds/virtuous_rose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On a too-bright and sleepless night, two companions bond over habits they've noticed the other perform.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ardbert &amp; Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nicknames</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My friend pointing out that I give all the characters in this game nicknames led to a silly headcanon which led to this VERY self-indulgent fic with my WoL. Can you tell I had a massive crush on Ardbert throughout Shadowbringers? This is my first time posting anything on ao3 (and writing anything in ~2 years) so sorry if the formatting/anything else is weird. </p>
<p>Fic takes place after fighting Vauthry while WoL/D rests in the Pendants after... all that.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Are you there?” a tired voice muttered from under the covers of her bed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Where else would I be?” a response; good. She wasn’t alone. He was there. Neither of them knew why or how, but they could see each other. Or rather, she could see him. And she was glad for it, having someone to talk to; seemingly about anything.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I don’t know, thought you might’ve gone down to the Stairs for a pint or a game of triple triad. Or maybe even seeing which of the young maidens of the Crystarium strike your fancy.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hmfp. Asshole.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Stalker.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>With that, the woman turned herself over in her bed, now facing away from the cold stone wall of her room and looking upon the figure who’d made himself comfortable in her quarters. “Sorry, just poking fun. I know you try to give me time alone and all, but lately…”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But lately. Her mind drifted, lost in thought of what had happened the past couple days. The Light. Her. She was causing it. For all her strife, she failed. No; not yet. She still had a chance. For G’raha. It was because of him that she was even here; that this world still had a chance, that her world still had a chance, that the man who fired a bullet to hault the Miqo’te’s attempt at suicide wasn’t yet sucsessful in his schemes. But for now she lacked the strength to search for him. Rest, she was told, is what she needed. But rest was the last thing on her mind.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“My turn to ask if you’re there,” she heard as a white-tinted gauntlet interrupted her field of view. “Lost in thought, hero?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I have a name, you know.” She paused, reigning in her mind in from the realm of daydreams. That’s what </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>called her, too. His </span>
  <em>
    <span>hero</span>
  </em>
  <span>, in that grating tone. Even thinking of the chaos-bringer made her feel defiled, a testament to the twisted Light ravaging her body and mind. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Rose.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh. So you </span>
  <em>
    <span>can</span>
  </em>
  <span> use my name. I’m impressed.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well it seemed to have brought you back to the real world, for now.” The warrior was shuffling around the room, a habit Rose soon picked up on after meeting the man again upon the shard. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry, it’s just… everything. The way that they look at me. My friends, I mean. They try to put on a friendly facade, but I know what they’re thinking. ‘How long is she going to remain </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>?’ ‘How long until something bad happens, keeping her here?’ It’s as if they’re delaying the inevitable. No, not even ‘as if,’ they </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” She held a thin arm up to her face, thinner than it seemed back on the Source. There was a reason for that, a lack of eating, a lack of sleeping, a never ending lethargic feeling, all emanating from the Light overpowering her aether and the worries born of said predicament. “Ali’s probably the worst at hiding it. She and I, we were close, so close right before all this. We promised that we wouldn’t lose each other, but of course we did. We found each other, but things are different. And now… I worry if they’ll ever go back to what they were. To be honest, she’s probably the one I trust the most out of that lot, and the one most visibly pained by this whole ordeal.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A pause, to let the words settle and the emotions leave her breath into the cold, Light-stained room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You shorten them.” Ardbert stopped his pacing, looking straight at the hyur lying in her bed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Their names, you shorten them, give them nicknames. Don’t think I haven’t picked up on some of your habits.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I guess I do. I honestly don’t seem to notice it anymore. My friends seemed to have accepted it by now, though it was a bit of a shock to them initially. You should’ve seen the first time I called Alphinaud ’Alphy.’ Nophica’s will, his cheeks turned red as the false moon.” She let out a small giggle as she recalled the memory. “And if I dared utter the dreadful moniker whilst Estinien was in even a ten malm radius, heavens protect me from the little brute’s wrath. The dragoon had qualms of his own when I unwittingly uttered the name ‘Stinny,’ though.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Those times seemed so long ago. She had worries then too, of course, but with every passing day and every new enemy, the worries seemed to grow until they nearly overtook her. Worries so overwhelming she couldn’t even force herself out of bed. She felt pitiful, and didn’t know if it was for worse or better that she had a ghost watching her during her time of weakness. Rose felt the eyes of her companion on her, perhaps mulling over his own next words.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And they never return the favor, your friends?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ha! They’re about as stubborn as you are against calling me by my actual name. It’s always </span>
  <em>
    <span>Warrior of Light</span>
  </em>
  <span>, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Our Savior</span>
  </em>
  <span>, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Dearest Friend</span>
  </em>
  <span>, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Esteemed Colleague</span>
  </em>
  <span>, or some other fanciful way of dancing around using ‘Rose.’ I don’t know why, maybe the monikers make sending me off onto danger’s doorstep less personal. Less guilt waving your friend goodbye as she leaves to fight yet another foe if she’s a Warrior of Light instead of a Rose.” She pushed herself up from her resting position, gathering her meager strength to sit on her mattress and lean against the wall.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well then, I reckon it’s time for a change of pace,” Ardbert cut in. Rose looked up, surprised at his sudden offer. “Enough with the Ali’s and Alphy’s, the Thancy’s and Y’sh’s and Uri’s, let’s give you something special.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Something special. It had been a long while since she had done something silly or pointless for herself. Or more appropriately, since someone had done something of the sort </span>
  <em>
    <span>for</span>
  </em>
  <span> her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“My name’s already short enough as is. I’m not sure you could bring it down any further while still retaining any semblance of a name at all.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that a challenge, o famed Warrior of Light?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gods, this man was going to be the death of her. Before she could even so much as think about making a quip at his seeming forgetfulness that he held the same title as her, he blurted out, “Ro.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Ro.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She mulled it over in her head. It felt strange being called by a name she wasn’t used to, but also comforting, knowing it was coming from a trusted friend. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I… I like it.” She offered her watcher a smile, her current circumstances and the reversed state of the First’s Light nearly cleansed from her mind. “But I wouldn’t stand for such a one-sided interaction.” Ardbert offered her an inquisitive look, preparing himself for her yet unknown proposition. “You know this means I must find something else to call </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> now, yes? We can’t enact your newly found wishes of friends emulating friends’ habits without returning the favor.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The newly-emaciated midlander placed her palms down on her mattress and pushed herself to her feet. A shaky hold, as expected. She used the furniture along the way to keep her balance as she walked to her room’s kitchen table and sat down in one of the stools circled around it. Her spectre friend followed her, standing across the table from where she had planted herself. As she brought a hand to her chin and an elbow to rest on the table, she thought out loud. “Hm… Ardbert… turn that into Bert, or Ard, or Ardy…“ she trailed off as her postulations turned from audible to imagined. Once fully quiet and still, her head shot up to look the warrior in the eye. “Gods, do you remember that terrible name you made for yourself on the Source? I couldn’t come up with a worse pseudonym if I tried. Subtracting one letter from your name, that’ll make one hell of a disguise, huh? What were you thinking?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span> Her companion moved his arms from their usual stoic position folded in front of his chest. With a sigh and a grin, he held his head in one of his armored hands. “We were rushed! Do you think we had any time to think of proper na-” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The newly dubbed Ro did not back down from her assault on the man’s ill-conceived alias. “I’d wager a spriggan who’s halfway to the Seventh Hell on Lominsan Red could come up with something twice as decent! ‘Arbert…’ it almost seems sad how unoriginal it is.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She let out a nearly-stifled laugh which turned into a puff of air fleeing her nose. More laughs came, and she couldn’t help but let them through; it was hard work stopping the giggles of a Warrior of Light from escaping. It was the most spirited she could remember herself being in recent memory. Her companion quickly joined her, amused at the absurdity of the situation. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Had I known you planned to dredge that up, I would’ve searched for an embarrassment of your own.” He looked down at the woman in front of him, and she was glad he was there; someone she could talk to and laugh with and prod about past misgivings. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to stick to calling you Ardbert, at least for now; until I can come up with something better.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Perfectly fine, if you’ll allow me to stick to Ro.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But of course.” She raised her hands to her sides, mocking a curtsey while remaining in her seat, smiling at her nickname-less friend. “Ro,” she repeated to herself, “I quite like the sound of it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Though the next few days would be straining, only adding to her fragile state, she would have a redeeming thought to keep her from slipping. “I’m his Ro.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The night had returned for good this time. The Crystarium was bustling about, covered in a layer of darkness born of the absence of light; darkness which seemed to lovingly embrace everything within the city. The war being waged amongst Rose's aether was swallowed by the darkness of the man who had her nearly consumed by light. Everything was supposed to be okay, or at least closer to okay than it was previously, but it didn’t feel that way. Thoughts of the myriad loose ends of the Source and First overtook her mind. The war with the Empire still raged, and she had been away from the frontlines for months now. There was one more Virtue to track down, and relations with Eulmore were improving, but still strained. Not even taking into account the predicament of her friends’ souls trapped upon the shard, it seemed as if she had the same amount of worries on her plate as before. Her friends. Those who she considered her closest allies and confidants, but the newest addition to her list was no longer there.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Perhaps out of loneliness, perhaps out of bargaining, perhaps out of the routine she had fallen into of late-night conversations, she thought.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I don’t know where you are.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I don’t know if you’re with me.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I don’t know if you’re watching me.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I don’t know if you’re listening to me.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>You’re gone, I think. But you saved me.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>Because of you… </span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I’m still here.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>Everyone’s still here.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>Your legacy lives on.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>Your world lives on.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>I’m only sorry… </span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>That I couldn’t find a name for you in time</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>
    <em>
      <span>before you gave me everything.</span>
    </em>
  </p>
  <p> </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>Ro turned in her bed, convinced it was another sleepless night to be added to the tally. No one to bide the time with until her body finally gave out from exhaustion. At least this night, she could see the myriad of stars plastering the sky with sparkles of white from her Pendants window. She still had so much to do, but the familiar coldness of the stone room, and the comforting warmth afforded her by the blankets covering her whisked her off to dream, and she could forget about her worries; if only for a bit. </span>
</p>
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